Aggie patted his hand. He was right, she wouldn’t. And she knew he would be very uncomfortable in that situation. Five and a half months wasn’t all that long to wait.
“November first it is,” Aggie said, a huge grin plastered to her face.
“Wonderful,” Charity said. “Here’s a brochure. We’ll exchange contact information and make further arrangements.”
“What happened to the rooms I had built for my lady?” Jace asked. “She cannot find comfort in these halls.”
Aggie jerked her head to give him a strange look. “What?”
Jace blinked at her. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“What did you just say? It didn’t make any sense.”
Jace shrugged and shook his head. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You did. I heard you.” Aggie turned to Charity to back her up. “Didn’t he just say something about building rooms for his lady and comfortable halls?”
The coordinator lifted a brow and shook her head slightly. “I didn’t hear him say as much, but he is rather quiet for such an attractive man.” Her cheeks went pink. She reached for an address book to record their personal information. “Names.”
“Agatha Christine Martin,” Aggie said. Soon to be Agatha Christine Seymour, which was an even worse name. She vowed that if they ever had children, she’d give them decent names to help counter the Seymour Butts jokes they were sure to endure.
“Jason Thomas Seymour,” Jace said absently.
The woman stopped with her pen in midstroke. “Thomas Seymour?”
“Your middle name isn’t Thomas, it’s Michael,” Aggie said.
Jace’s dark eyebrows drew together. “You’re right. I don’t know why I said that. I’m kind of distracted.”
This place seemed to bring that out in him.
“You’re a Seymour?” Charity lifted a golden blond eyebrow at him.
Jace nodded.
“Thomas Seymour was the baron of this holding in the sixteenth century,” she said. “Did you visit Queen Katherine’s tomb in the church? He was married to her.”
Jace shook his head, his face a shade paler than usual. “We didn’t make it that far in the tour, but Aggie was reading about him in her guidebook and the tour guide mentioned him several times. That must be why I gave you the wrong name.”
“I wonder if you’re related,” Charity said, sitting straighter in her chair. Head cocked to one side, her gray eyes assessed him with interest.
Jace laughed. “Not likely.”
“Ah well, we can pretend,” she said and winked at him. “I think you should go visit Queen Katherine before you leave today. Some claim to have seen her ghost. A tall, elegant woman in a green gown.”
Aggie chuckled. Ghosts? Who in this day and age would believe in such nonsense? She rolled her eyes at Jace, but he did not look amused.
“We’ll have to postpone that visit until we return in November,” he said. “I have somewhere I need to be.”
And by the way he was perched on the edge of his chair, Aggie assumed it was anywhere but here.
“You do want to get married here, don’t you?” Aggie asked, grabbing him firmly by the elbow before he launched himself out of his seat.
“Can’t wait,” he said breathlessly.
But something about the way he held his body so stiffly made Aggie doubt his sincerity.
Chapter Six
Halloween
Aggie dropped her bag wearily inside the bedroom door of the cottage she was sharing with her mother for the night. She felt that she got the short straw on that draw, but the other cottages just outside the Sudeley Castle grounds were occupied by couples, and since her new stepfather hadn’t been able to attend the wedding ceremony, Aggie’s mother had come to England without him. She’d been driving Aggie nuts since they boarded their flight in Los Angeles over eleven hours before. Sitting between her incredibly introverted fiancé and her obtrusively extroverted mother for that many hours had worn Aggie’s nerves raw. This was supposed to be the happiest time of her life, and she just wanted to kick someone in the face.
“This is quaint,” her mom said. “I expected accommodations at a castle to be a bit grander.”
“The castle itself is breathtaking,” Aggie assured her. “The guest cottages are newer. Besides, I like them.”
“I saw the castle on the way in,” her mom said. “It was beautiful. Very romantic. I always thought you’d get married someplace a bit gloomier.”
“Why’s that?”
Her mother chuckled, the sound low and throaty. “Well, you’ve always swayed toward the dark and macabre. And it is Halloween, after all.”
“But I’m getting married tomorrow, not tonight.”
“Close enough.” Her mom grinned and began searching through her purse.
There was a knock at the door, and Aggie opened it at once. Jace smiled at her, but he looked almost as weary as she felt. She ushered him inside and closed the door to the chilly afternoon air.
“We need to meet with the event planner to make sure everything is ready for tomorrow,” he said. “And apparently Eric has cooked up something special for everyone tonight, Halloween being his favorite holiday after April Fool’s Day.”
“I’m not sure I’m up for Eric’s nonsense tonight,” Aggie said with a tired sigh. “I have jet lag from hell.”
He touched her cheek gently and stared into her eyes almost dreamily. “Maybe we’ll have time for a nap before Eric’s Halloween bash.”